bdnews24.com :
Two Bangladeshis were burnt to death and another two were injured on Friday in a fire at a three-story residential building in Jamea district of Saudi Arabia’s South Jeddah.
The foreign ministry spokesperson Md Shameem Ahsan confirming the casualties, told the news agency that the fire broke out due to a gas cylinder explosion.
Quoting Bangladesh’s Consul General in Jeddah, he said apart from Bangladeshis, six Yemenis were also injured in the fire.
The deceased were identified as Aminul Islam and Md Zafar -both from Manikganj.
Earlier Saudi Gazette reported that two Bangladeshis were killed and five Yemenis and a Civil Defense fire fighter were injured in the fire that swept through the building.
Eight fire-fighting teams put out the blaze and rescued residents trapped inside the building, it said.
The injured have been taken to King Abdulaziz Hospital in Mahjar district, said Col Saeed Sarhan, Civil Defence spokesman in the Makkah region.
Officials at the foreign ministry, however, said the fire gutted belongings including passports of Bangladeshis who were residing in the building.
The Bangladesh mission would take care of them, an official of the ministry told bdnews24.com.
He said the process had already been started to send the bodies back home.
The oil-rich Kingdom is the home to thousands of Bangladeshi workers, whose remittance wheels the country’s economy.
According to Bangladesh Manpower Export and Training Bureau, at least 2.6 million Bangladeshis left for Saudi Arabia since 1976 with work permits. At least 1.5 million of them are currently working there ‘legally’.
